Dr. Praeger’s Buffalo Fish Bites Review

Our vegetarian staffers have been saying good things about Dr. Praeger’s frozen foods for a while now. We called Dr. Praeger’s Hearty Breakfast Bowl “a terrific way to start out any day,” and we’ve been having a lot of fun with the cute shapes of the Littles. Clearly, there are some wonderful vegetarian items in this line.

However, this could easily lead people into believing that Dr. Praeger’s is a vegetarian-only brand, such as Amy’s Kitchen or Sweet Earth. In fact, some of our staffers were under that misconception for a while. So we realized that we should probably check out some of the meatier products in this line, which absolutely do exist.

And then we discovered the Dr. Praeger’s Buffalo Fish Bites. These delectable-looking treats seemed like the perfect introduction to the carnivore-friendly side of Dr. Praeger’s frozen food lineup. It’s no secret that we’re fans of buffalo-style chicken, so you can only imagine how eager we were to try our beloved buffalo-style sauce/seasoning on what are basically mini fish sticks.

These are pretty small, as each fish bite is about the size of a tater tot. So we were surprised at how long the cooking time is. You’ll need to preheat your oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit, then place these on a cookie sheet and toss them into the oven. You’ll need to cook them for 14 minutes, then flip them over, and give them about another 11 minutes. That’s a 25-minute cook time, which seems like a lot for a small item at such a high temperature.

Of course, there are also skillet instructions, which take about a third that amount of time. We were just worried this might result in super-greasy fish bites, so we chose the oven instead.

Now, the fish stick analogy we made earlier is pretty apt, because these are made from Alaskan pollack, which is rather common in fish sticks. And flavor-wise, these lean much harder into the “fish” side of the equation than the “buffalo-style” side. These taste pretty much like fish sticks. The buffalo flavor is there, of course, but it bows in submission to the flavor of the fish (which isn’t surprising, since fish tends to have a naturally potent flavor to begin with).

However, there is a pretty noticeable zing to these. We don’t want to call them spicy, but they definitely leave your mouth and throat with some tingles.

There are also some carrots blended into the breading, so you’ll see some bright orange speckles if you inspect them closely, but we don’t think this affects the taste much.

Being midwesterners, of course we had to try these with some ranch dressing. We thought it sort of looks like that’s what’s shown on the box. Well, as much as we love our ranch, we have to admit that isn’t the right flavor combo. We think these would probably go better with some tarter sauce. (On second thought, tarter sauce is probably what’s shown on the box. That makes so much more sense.)

One serving is nine of these bites, and there are supposedly about three servings in a box. Based on that math, you should expect to find about 27 bites in a box. Ours had 29.

If you stick with a single serving, you’re only going to consume about 160 calories and 480 mg of sodium. If you end up eating the whole box, that looks a bit less pretty, at 480 calories and 1,440 mg of sodium. Now, 27 (or 29) fish bites is kind of a lot, so we don’t think you’ll need to eat a box in a sitting (though it’s definitely a feasible endeavor for those with voracious appetites). We actually think a half box (or 14-15 fish bites) is a great amount, which puts you at 240 calories and 720 mg of sodium. That seems about perfect for a frozen fish dish.

Dr. Praeger’s Buffalo Fish Bites are great if you’re into the taste of fish sticks. The buffalo flavor is there, but it’s subtle, so the fish do most of the talking. Plus these have some nice kick to them. Overall, we really like these. Dr. Praeger’s does have more fish-based items in their lineup, and we’re excited to try more of them.

To learn more about the nutrition contents or ingredients in these frozen fish bites, check out our package scan below.